It All Goes Back to Chess
by Shiori Hitohana
Summary: Chairman Durandal clearly considers the world a chess game…so who is what piece? One-shot.


A/N: To anyone who's waiting for me to update Batman's Ultimate Villain with Touya's oneshot...I'm really sorry! I'm just really, really stuck. So I wrote other stuff instead...I hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed, Gundam Seed Destiny, or any of the characters contained within

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It's interesting; almost anything a leader needs to do can be compared to chess. Especially war. Chess is a most intriguing game; you must always think ahead, and you must always be willing to sacrifice your pieces.

I play chess differently than one would normally play it. I don't wait for the other side to take its turn. In the real world, doing so will only lead you to destruction. You must, however, consider that they will do the same thing.

There are other differences. In chess, the pieces don't change sides. In war, you must always watch for such things, and be prepared to destroy pieces that are leaning to one side or the other. A soldier too easily swayed by ideals may switch sides, and in a war, that can be dangerous.

One would think that I was waging war against the Alliance; after all, I am the chairman of ZAFT. However, that is only a side campaign. My true enemy, the one I must map on the chess board to understand their moves, is the Archangel.

The Archangel is much less predictable than the Alliance. One can never predict the moves of an opponent unless they fully understand them, so before I even began my campaign against them, I plotted out who they were and the roles they play in this game.

The King is, of course, the Archangel itself, but also Murrue Ramius, the captain. Without her, the Archangel would not be a threat. Only she, and the crew she can gather, can turn it into a threat.

That's another thing that's different about real life and chess. In chess, the game ends when the king is captured; in real life, the pieces may still go on fighting to avenge their king.

The queen is Lacus Clyne. She's much too persuasive for her own good; she has the tendency to end battles with her soft words. However, she ends the battle too swiftly, which only leads to a state of confusion in the world. Despite her words of love and peace, she is willing to take up arms and even to command others in war, which makes her one of the most dangerous pieces they have.

Then there are the two bishops. The first is Martin DaCosta. He was once a member of ZAFT, but, when his commander was swayed by Lacus' words, so was he. He was a member of the Clyne Faction, and was unafraid to risk his life on several occasions for her. Still, his influence is limited to reaching pieces on the black squares of the chess board.

The second bishop is Cagalli Yula Atha, Orb's chief representative. She continually seeks an end to the war, and has proven resourceful in gathering Orb soldiers to herself, due to her idealist views. She, unlike DaCosta, is capable of reaching any piece on the white squares of the board, the pieces of the Earth Alliance.

The two knights had already been diminished to one before my fight against them even began. The knight that was gone was Mu La Flaga, the Hawk of Endymion. He died in the previous war, so I didn't have to worry about him anymore.

The other knight is Athrun Zala, son of Patrick Zala, the ex-chairman of ZAFT. For a time, I was able to guide the movements of this piece, and he became a third knight in my collection. However, as time wore on, he began to return to their side; he was one of those dangerous pieces that constantly switch sides. Cagalli Yula Atha was to blame for that; she had a heavy influence over him, one that outweighed me and the shadow of his father.

The castles are stronger than the bishops and knights. They can move much more swiftly across the board, and they can castle with the Archangel to provide greater strength. There are two of these as well. First is Andrew Waltfeld, the Desert Tiger. He has proved extremely resourceful, both in battle and in drawing new forces to the side of the Archangel.

Next is Kira Yamato. Though a castle, he's one of the most important pieces. His machine, the Freedom, was considered the strongest of all Mobile Suits for a time, but, fortunately, he had an obvious weakness. His spirit was never one that suited a warrior; he was much too soft. He refused to harm any pilots, no matter how difficult it was to disassemble their mobile suits.

They never had many pawns, but I had reason to believe that they had a fairly good information system, one that I had to watch out for, for it could quickly learn of any plan of ZAFT or of the Earth Alliance forces.

Then there are the black pieces, the pieces I controlled. First is the king; this is me. As the Chairman of Zaft, I have control of how to move the pieces, but am also a piece to be captured myself.

The black queen is the Minerva, with its captain Talia Gladys. Whenever I need one of the white pieces destroyed, her ship is the strongest to be sent out. I have not yet had the chance to send the piece out against the white queen, Lacus Clyne, but I feel confident even she will be overcome.

The black bishops are Yzak Joule and Arthur Trine. Yzak's passion makes him useful for defending the Plants from attack, and Arthur keeps the crew of the Minerva dependable. Both, however, are merely backup pieces, not entirely useful in the long run of this fight.

The black knights are Heine Westenfluss and Lunamaria Hawke. Unfortunately, Heine's piece had to be sacrificed to the Castle, Kira Yamato. It was necessary to keep Athrun, my white knight, under control. Lunamaria Hawke is an effective fighter, despite her idealism. Working together with the queen, the Minerva, she can capture most of the pieces.

Then there are the black castles, my two most important pieces, strangely enough. The first is Rey Za Burrel. His complete loyalty to me makes him almost invaluable, especially when added to his usefulness as a mobile suit pilot. He is my final protection, the one I must castle with if all goes wrong.

Shinn Asuka is my final castle. Rey has molded him very well so far; Shinn was even able to defeat the Freedom, Kira Yamato, the white castle. With that piece and the Archangel off the board, destroying the white queen should not prove overly difficult. Shinn is a useful piece, but his youth makes him vulnerable to ideals. His background with Orb may also cause problems for me eventually; thus, I must ensure that Rey continues to watch and guide him.

Then there are my pawns. First is Meer Campbell. She was once a simple pawn, but I was able to get her across the board without detection; and now she has become a queen. She is invaluable in manipulating the people of the Plants to my ends, and she was, for a time, useful even in manipulating Athrun. Truly, a valuable piece; but any pawn on the other side of the board is one you must be willing to sacrifice without question.

Then there is the most useful pawn of all; the mob. With simple words they can be guided to attack whomever I say, and thus absolve me of the blame while accomplishing my goals. Still, they must not be depended on too greatly, nor overestimated, for they can quickly turn against me or be destroyed.

Still, I believe I have the upper hand in this chess game I'm playing. With the Freedom destroyed, I have little more to fear; and even if Athrun escaped, I still have the pieces that actually belong to me. I will win this chess game, one move at a time.

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A/N: Thank you for reading! This one-shot was three pages long. I'll soon be updating another Gundam Seed Destiny one-shot, entitled "Mirror." It's a character study of Meer Campbell. I hope if you liked this one, you'll like "Mirror" too!


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